The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) regularly captures stunning images of our universe, leaving space lovers mesmerized. The Instagram handle of the US Space Agency is a treasure trove for those who love to watch educational videos and fascinating images showcasing Earth and space. Now, in its recent post, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a "snowman", which is located about 6,000 light-years away from Earth.
As per the agency, the image has been classified as an "emission nebula" and these "diffuse clouds of gas have become so charged by the energy of nearby massive stars that they glow with their own light". "The radiation from these massive stars strips electrons from the nebula's hydrogen atoms in a process called ionization. As the energized electrons revert from their higher-energy state to a lower-energy state, they emit energy in the form of light, causing the nebula's gas to glow," the space agency added.
In the image, one can notice three bright, blue-white stars at the upper left mark the beginning of a bright and dusty reddish-brown, orange, and white swathe of glowing gas and dust, with its upper portions loosely resembling a snowman with a scarf and top hat, according to NASA. "The rest of the image is dark and full of sparkling stars, many with diffraction spikes," they added.
This picture was taken during a study of "protostars," or newly forming stars that were of massive- and intermediate size. Scientists searched for hydrogen ionized by ultraviolet light from the protostars, jets from the stars, and other features of Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3's infrared sensitivity.
Since being shared five days ago, the picture has amassed over 60,000 likes.
A user commented, "this is so beautiful i will cry."
"Amazing," added a person.
A third commented, "This is marvellous."
"A cosmic spectacle, where the artistry of the universe manifests in celestial forms," stated another user.
Many users also left heart emojis in the comments section.
